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Fallout follows after herring protection rejected

BOSTON A plan to protect the important Atlantic herring from what many believe is its biggest threat has been shelved indefinitely after years of work devising it – and even after winning support from the very vessels being targeted.

Last month, federal regulators at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration rejected a measure that would have required independent catch observers aboard every trip taken by mid-water trawlers, which can scoop herring out of sea hundreds of thousands of pounds at a time.

Critics believed the observers would find that the vessels dump large amounts of herring and often inadvertently catch and kill critical marine species, such as cod or haddock. But trawler owners said the observers would vindicate them.